


Poverties

by lacepirate



Series: Drabbles, Ramblings, Ideas & More [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, College Projects, Cute, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Love, M/M, Mention of Death, i care alot about period poverty okay, if youre curious please just ask me i love to share, non graphic mention of deaths, period poverty, very soft content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacepirate/pseuds/lacepirate
Summary: “Do you have designs yet? I can get FRIDAY to do up measurements, and we can use the microlasers or parts of the 3D printer to cut up the fabric I suppose - though I have to admit, I never intended them to be for that use, and designing with fabrics is definitely not my area of expertise but-”“Wait, ‘us’? You want to help?”-Peter and co. have a school project to do, and Tony loves to create.





	Poverties

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to be more creatively active, half because I want to and half from recommendation from my psychologist, so if yall want more let me know !!!

“Oh no, what is this?” Tony sighed, watching the two teenagers carrying heaps of what looked to be… fabric? Both were carrying a pile that stacked over their heads, Peter with black, and MJ with red. 

“Peter, I know you’re quite fond of your original suit, but we’ve been over this, the nanites are much safer and much better at taking any kind of impact more than fabric ever will,”

Peter laughs, angling his body sideways to look over the pile in his hands at his mentor.

“No! Mr. Stark, don’t worry, this is for school!”

Tony didn’t look any more relieved. 

“What could you possibly be doing with this much fabric for school?” he questioned, an eyebrow cocking towards his hairline. 

“Well, okay, so - we have a project for our class right? Basically,” Peter continues, leading MJ beside him to place their fabric bunches on a table.

“We have to  _ make  _ something that people need, that often goes overlooked because it’s not in the mainstream. Like, food banks and shelters are definitely a thing, and obviously are always needed, and they do help, but people need other things besides food and shelter right?

“And then, we get to donate it locally or globally, wherever we so choose within our group!” Peter’s face lights up with every word. Tony fondly notices MJ smiling at Peter, who is still maintaining eye contact with Tony.

“Okay, and where does the fabric play into this?”

“Yes! Okay, so,” Peter flails his hands excitedly.

“We’re going to be making reusable menstrual pads! And, I figured we could do it down here because there’s lots of room, and we also kind of need to come up with a way to do it pretty efficiently. Period poverty is a bigger thing than people realize,” Peter’s eyes downcast slightly.

“Did you know people in Nepal are secluded to ‘menstrual huts’ when they have their periods? And because they’re so tiny and unattached to anything else, they’re starting fires to keep themselves warm, and dying because they’re either accidentally being burned to death in their sleep, or suffocating from the fumes because there’s no ventilation. All because of the stigma around periods and menstruation, and because they don’t have any kind of supplies to deal with it.”

Peter’s eyes look slightly glossy, staring off to the side of Tony’s shoulder, seemingly lost in thought. He knows for a fact that Peter feels directly guilty for it, even though it’s something way out of his physical reach and power to be able to do anything about it at that very moment. He’s always floored by how much Peter cares about other people, and how much change he does and inspires, but Tony also wishes he would let others help carry the weight. That he wasn’t alone in this fight, or any other ones to come. 

Tony hummed in thought. 

“So, you’re sewing them?”

MJ nodded, leaving Peter to collect his thoughts for a moment longer. 

“The point of the project it that we have to make it, but obviously we can’t make enough by hand, so we’re borrowing sewing machines. Ned is out grabbing them.” 

Peter nods in agreement. 

“I know Betty’s group is making cloth diapers, and Jacob’s is doing reusable produce bags and beeswax wraps I think.” 

Tony already has half a million thoughts flying through his mind at how economical he could help them with this, because he’s very obviously going to be involved in every single step, helping in any way that he can; not only for the obvious reasons, but because he’s also a pretty selfish person, and he wants to see Peter light up in excitement and compassion. 

“Do you have designs yet? I can get FRIDAY to do up measurements, and we can use the microlasers or parts of the 3D printer to cut up the fabric I suppose - though I have to admit, I never intended them to be for that use, and designing with fabrics is definitely not my area of expertise but-”

“Wait, ‘us’? You want to help?” Peter looks genuinely confused. 

This kid. Did he really think he was gonna walk in, present Tony with this ethical real world problem in which he got to actively play around and design things, and expect him not to intervene or get excited about it? 

Tony rolls his eyes at Peter, but gets up from where he was sitting, leaving the machinery his was playing with on the desk. He picks up a section of the fabric they placed on the table. 

“It’s cotton?”

Peter’s eyes light up again. He’ll truly never get tired of that sight. 

“Flannel! We were going back and forth and doing research on what kinds of fabric would and do work best, but also the easiest to handle and the most inexpensive and our ability to access it. We do still have to get some kind of waterproof layer in there somewhere, to stop bleed throughs.” 

Tony nods and walks over to the closest holoscreen, already pulling up a new page to figure out the waterproofing layer. 

“We don’t have a set amount on how many we want to make, we figure since we’re all pretty unfamiliar with sewing machines, we have to give ourselves some lenience. But, we do have two full weeks to do it, there’s no lectures during that time at least, the prof is letting us use that time for production.” 

Tony smiles at him over his shoulder, abandons his tabs for the time being, slowly walking over to Peter and MJ. 

“Alright then,” Tony claps his hands together. 

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”

MJ smiles and nods, leaving the room to go grab more supplies to transport.

Peter takes a step towards Tony, snaking his arms around his midsection, resting his head beside his nano-housing, listening to the steady beat of his heart. 

“Thank you,” Pete mumbles into Tony’s chest.

“Anytime kid. I’m proud of you.” Tony kisses the top of Peter’s hair, which admittedly has grown longer and therefore curlier, and slightly more unruly, but Tony can’t say he dislikes it at all. 

Peter tilts his head up to meet Tony halfway, pressing their lips together, and mumbling again. 

“I love you, Tony.” 

“love you too, Peter.”

As if Tony wouldn’t move the heavens and earth to make Peter smile.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/world/asia/nepal-menstruation-hut-death-chhaupadi.html  
> one of the many articles on the deaths in Nepal from menstrual huts.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! I absolutely adore comments and kudos too, if you feel so inclined to leave one or more, and I love prompts too, you're more than welcome to send them to me!!
> 
> also on avatrs.tumblr.com  
> and twitter @ddystark


End file.
